Star Trek: The Next Generation is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe created by Gene Roddenberry. The first live-action television continuation of the original (1966–1969) series Star Trek, The Next Generation is set nearly a century later and features a new starship and a new crew. It is often referred to as ST:TNG or simply TNG.

The series was conceived of and produced by original Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. It premiered the week of September 28, 1987 with the two-hour pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint" and ran for seven seasons, ending with the final episode "All Good Things..." the week of May 23, 1994. The series was broadcast in first-run syndication, so airdates and airtimes varied among individual television stations. The show gained a considerable following during its run, and like its predecessor, remains popular in syndicated reruns. Its popularity led to a line of spin-off or prequel television series that would continue without interruption until 2005. The series also formed the basis of the seventh through tenth movies of the Star Trek theatrical film series.

After having viewed reruns of the original series endlessly, to the point of being able to repeat almost every word from memory, this new series came none too soon. The great thing for me was this series had more depth of story line and character development. Rodenberry kept his liberal view of the world by showing those that would best survive an interstellar community would be the liberals. While I have not memorized every word of this series like the original, I remain a faithful fan.